Glacial acetic acid
is called "glacial" because its freezing point (16.7 C) is only slightly
below room temperature. In the (generally unheated) laboratories in which
the pure material was first prepared, the acid was often found to have
frozen into ice-like crystals. The term "glacial acetic acid" is now taken to
refer to pure acetic acid (ethanoic acid) in any physical state.
There is safety data on acetic acid
here.
Return to the
Safety Glossary.
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Safety Home Page
of the Physical and Theoretical Chemistry Laboratory, Oxford University.